Tourism Ireland remains upbeat about the industry's prospects for the coming year, despite new figures showing a 1.2 per cent drop in inbound numbers to the country in Q1 2012.
Between January and March this year, Central Statistics Office (CSO) data showed that Ireland welcomed 1.165 million visitors - down from 1.178 million for the same period in 2011. Visits from the UK, however, were up 2 per cent.
Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said: "The results for the first quarter of 2012 are in line with expectations.
"The global economic landscape of recent months has certainly presented a challenging environment for travel and tourism and that is reflected in the CSO figures."
Details:
www.tourismireland.com (Tourism Ireland)
Details:
www.cso.ie (Central Statistics Office) (.pdf)
